


We Really Can't Stay Away From Each Other, Can We?

by Red_K_Alex



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-21 07:57:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9538751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_K_Alex/pseuds/Red_K_Alex
Summary: Lena and Kara were girlfriends in college until Lex and Clark's feud got between them. Now, as Lena returns to National City, their paths keep crossing despite their best efforts to stay apart. Will they be able to reconcile the relationship, or are they destined to have this fight forever.





	1. Prologue or The College Days

Lena tried to focus on the document in front of her as she typed her final paper of her last class of her Junior year of college. _Tried_ being the operative word. It was really hard to focus with the adorable distraction in the form of her girlfriend wiggling around in the corner.

“I’m almost done, babe, I promise,” Lena lied. She was far from done, but she would take a break soon to tire out her girlfriend so she could go back to writing.

“I’m sorry,” Kara said. “I’m trying to be patient I really am. I just miss hanging out with you.”

“I’m right here,” Lena said with a small smile.

“You know what I mean,” Kara said, frowning. “It’s not the same.”

“No, I know. What you _really_ miss is _making_ out with me,” Lena said.

Kara blushed and looked down at the ground. “Well, yeah, among other things. I just want to be able to talk to you, though, and hold you and not worry about school anymore.”

“I know, babe, I know. A few more days, ok? Then we have all of Christmas break to ourselves.”

“Kind of; I need to go home for a few days and you should too.”

Lena shook her head sadly. “Mother doesn’t want me there, and Lex will be too busy with work to really see me. Honestly, I’ll be better off here.”

“You could come home with me,” Kara says for about the 40th time that week, “Eliza would love to have you and Alex would get over it eventually. She’s starting to warm up to you. Plus she’ll be too busy making out with Maggie to really care that much.”

“I’ll think about it,” Lena said, which was the closest she’d come to agreeing thus far. Kara squealed, jumped off her place on the bed, and threw her arms around her girlfriend’s neck. “Kara, I said I’d think about it, not for sure.”

“I know, but if I pout enough I think you’ll see reason.”

Lena shook her head and tilted her face to plant a kiss on her girlfriend’s cheek. “Your puppy dog face gets you your way entirely too often, it’s so unfair.”

“But you loooove me.”

“Mmm, I do. Now, let me finish this page then we can get some food and watch tv, ok?”

Kara nodded and ran her fingers through Lena’s hair as she typed. It was still distracting, but Lena didn’t have the heart to stop her. And besides, it felt _really good._

Lena finished her page, exited out of Word, and pulled up the website for Kara’s favorite Chinese restaurant. “How hungry are you?” she asked.

“It’s a 4 order night,” Kara said pointing to “potstickers” on the menu.

“Just potstickers?” Lena said.

 

Kara nodded. “I’ll probably have a couple bites of whatever you’re having, though.” Lena made sure to select the large size of the lo mien she ordered.

“Ok, says it’ll be here in thirty minutes. Time enough for one episode?”

“Or…” Kara said, grabbing Lena’s hand and dragging her toward the bed.

“Mmm I like how you think Ms. Danvers,” Lena smirked and crawled on top of her girlfriend. She was just about to connect their lips when her phone started ringing. Normally, she’d just ignore it, but it was the special ringtone she’d set just for her mother.

“Kara, I’m so sorry, I have to take this.” Her mom only called if it was an emergency, and Lena didn’t want the speech she had gotten last time she’d missed one of her mother’s calls.

“It’s fine,” Kara said. “I’ll be waiting.”

Lena sent an apologetic look her way before answering the phone. “What do you need, Mother?” she said curtly.

“It’s Lex. He’s been imprisoned and you need to come home immediately.”

Lena’s heart sank. “What’d he do?” she whispered brokenly.

“Nothing that deserved jail, that’s for sure. Our lawyers will have him out quickly, that I’m sure of.”

“Then why do I need to be there?” Lena said, glancing over at her frowning girlfriend. She knew Kara could pick up every word.

“Press, mostly. We need a good family picture for when he gets out, and I need to quiz you on what to say when they ask you questions.”

“Can’t you do that over the phone? Wouldn’t it be better for me to lay low? I was planning to go to my… um… _friend’s_ house over break.” Kara’s frown deepened at the use of the word “friend” to describe her. She knew Lena hadn’t told her mom about them, for very good reasons, but it still hurt a little bit to be kept a secret. She didn’t blame Lena, though, of course. She was just upset at the necessity of sneaking around.

“Lena,” her mother said in a stern voice, “I wish you wouldn’t argue with me. You need to do this. For your brother; you owe him that much.”

Lena sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “All right, fine, let me finish my finals and I’ll be home in two days.”

“I’ll talk to your professors and you’ll be here tomorrow,” Lillian said. She hung up the phone before Lena had a chance to respond.

Kara held out her arms and Lena sighed as she settled into the embrace. “Sorry,” she murmured against Kara’s shoulder.

“Not your fault,” Kara whispered back. Kara ran her hands soothingly up and down Lena’s back until her own phone started to buzz. She kept one hand in her girlfriend’s hair as she used the other to answer. “Clark! Hi! What’s up!”

Lena smiled into Kara’s shoulder, knowing that her girlfriend rarely got a chance to talk with her cousin and cherished every opportunity. Her smile turned into a frown at the tone of Kara’s next words, though. “I see. You, uh… That was you. No, she’s with me. Yeah. Yeah, Lillian wants her home tomorrow though. Well of course she’s going to go; Lillian didn’t really give her a choice. K-Keep an eye on her, what do you mean? I mean, of course she _knows,_ Kal – er – Clark, so what? Well Lena isn’t _Lex,_ ok?”

Lena bristled at the way Kara said her brother’s name. She knew Lex was doing some… questionable stuff with the family business, but he was still her brother and she had to believe in his innocence.

“I know. Ok. I’ll talk to her. Love you too. Bye.” Kara tossed her phone across the room and pulled back from Lena with a distant look on her face.

“What was that all about?” Lena asked.

“It was about Lex. Clark, um, Clark’s the one who caught him.”

Lena stiffened. “Caught him what, Kara?”

“Caught him planting bombs under Metropolis. Clark’s going in to get an official interview tonight and wanted to give me a heads up before it appeared in the paper tomorrow.”

“Lex would never,” Lena muttered.

“Lena,” Kara started but Lena held her hand up.

“Lex. Would. Never. Lex would never hurt innocent people.”

“Lena, they have hard evidence. I know you love him, but Lex deserves to go to jail.”

“Kara, you don’t know that. All you know is what Clark tells you, and you know he’s biased against my brother.”

“Only because Lex is biased against Kal-El! He’s been trying to kill him for months now, Lena. He’s been trying to go against all aliens, including me!”

“He just wants to be safe. He doesn’t know how great aliens can be; all he sees is their power. Kara, I know and love you, but you have godlike powers that in the wrong hands could destroy everyone. Lex is just trying to be careful.”

“How long have you thought that way, Lena,” Kara said, her eyes darkening.

“Kara, I don’t feel that way about you. I love you so much and would trust you with my life; would trust you with anything.”

“Then why don’t you trust Superman? Why do you trust your brother? You can’t have me, an alien, as your girlfriend and then turn around and distrust everyone like me.”

“Not everyone is as good as you, Kara, you know that. It’s not just about aliens; it’s about everyone!”

“No,” Kara said, “No you’re right it’s not about aliens. It’s about Lex, isn’t it? You still can’t believe he’d ever do anything bad, despite all the warning signs.” They’d fought about this before. It was pretty much the only thing they’d fought about, and Kara hated that. Hated that something could come between them like this. She wished Lena could see that she just didn’t want her to get hurt; didn’t want Lex to betray her like everyone else in her family had.

Lena wished Kara could understand that she couldn’t just give up on the only Luthor who’d treated her like _family._ Lena loved Kara, but she’d grown up knowing that being a Luthor came first; that family loyalty was everything, and she couldn’t go against that now.

“Kara, I don’t want to get into this right now. I just want to eat bad Chinese food and watch dumb tv shows and finish my paper and go support my _family.”_

“Yeah, well, what about my family,” Kara muttered. She half hoped Lena couldn’t hear her.  
  
“What about them?” Lena said.

“You complain about your family all the time, but the instant they try to hurt _mine_ you step in defense of them. It sucks, Lena. I know you want to believe in Lex and you think he’s all you have, but he’s a bad dude. He’s always been after power, and he’ll bulldoze anyone in his way to get it, including you!”

“No, no that’s where you’re wrong. Sure, Lex hasn’t always been the most moral person, but he would _never_ hurt me. He’s been nothing but good to me and if you can’t see that…” she trailed off, not sure she wanted to finish that thought.

“If I can’t see that, what?”

“If you can’t see that maybe you don’t really know me as well as I thought you did.”

“Lena, I’m just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t _need_ your protection. I need your support.”

“And you have it, always, but Lex doesn’t.”

“Well he needs mine and if you can’t support him then maybe you can’t support me.” Lena shoved herself off the bed and began gathering her things off the desk.

“Lena, don’t. Don’t go,” Kara said, scrambling up after her.

“No. We’re never going to see eye-to-eye on this so maybe it’s better if…”

“No, no don’t finish that.”

“Maybe it’s better if we don’t talk about this anymore. Maybe… maybe it’s better if we don’t talk at all anymore.”

“Are you… are you breaking up with me?” Kara said. She sounded so small, and for a second Lena wanted to drop everything, to hold Kara and assure her that no, she wasn’t breaking up with her and never could. But then she looked at the phone in Kara’s hand and strengthened her resolve.

“Yeah, I am,” Lena said. “Unless you can learn to give my brother the benefit of the doubt and not just blindly believe everything Clark says.”

“You know I can’t do that. I trust Clark. Can you honestly say you trust Lex enough to know he won’t hurt my cousin or me or you?”

“I have to,” Lena said. “I know he doesn’t like you or Clark, but he wouldn’t hurt innocent people. He can’t be guilty and I need you on my side.”

“Lena, you know he’s done… shifty things in the past. I honestly think he’s very capable of this.”

“You won’t let this go, will you?”

“And neither will you, huh?”

“Nope.”

“Well,” Kara said, her shoulders shaking and tears threatening to burst on the edge of her eyes, “I guess maybe you’re right then. Maybe we should break up.”

“Yeah. We probably should.”

Kara longed to reach out and hold Lena one last time, but knew it’d be a bad idea. Knew that she’d never let go. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it has to end like this. I wish we could have just… ignored our families and been happy.”

Lena smiled sadly. “You could never abandon your family; they’re everything to you. I hope you understand that I have to do the same for mine.”

Kara nodded, refusing to look Lena in the eye. “I understand why you think that, but your family is bad, I’m sorry. I hope… I hope they don’t hurt you anymore, though. I hope I’m wrong.”

“I know you are,” Lena said. And with that, she opened the door and left Kara’s dorm room for the last time.

For the first time in her life, Kara couldn’t eat a singe potsticker. She dumped the entire order in the trash and sobbed into her pillow for the rest of the night.


	2. 4 Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena run into each other in National City after a few years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will not leave me alone I swear. This is like the fastest I've ever written. Don't expect updates this frequently or consistently all the time; I'm going out of town this weekend. A NYWAY I love Angst

“Clark Kent’s on his way in to see you,” Lena’s secretary, Jess, announced, “along with some CatCo reporter who’s name I couldn’t quite catch. I can tell them to go if you need me to…”

“No, no it’s fine. Send them in.” Lena saved the documents she’d been working on and shut down her laptop with a sigh. Clark Kent. She’d hoped she’d never have to hear that name again; it dredged up too many old feelings that she’d worked so hard to keep locked away.

She schooled her face into an impassive expression and stood to meet the reporter as he walked into her office. “Mr. Kent, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Oh, I think you know, Miss _Luthor,_ ” Clark said, spitting her last name out like it physically hurt to say.

“You’re wondering why I wasn’t aboard the Venture. I assure you, there’s a perfectly good reason for—” her breath stopped short when she finally got a good look at the timid girl hiding behind Kent. “Kara,” she breathed out, voice barely above a whisper. She knew Kara would have no trouble hearing it, though.

Kara lifted up her hand giving a tiny wave. “I’m here on behalf of the Tribune,” she said in a small voice. “But I’m letting Clark take the lead on this one. Please, continue.” She avoided meeting Lena’s eye, and instead looked at her cousin with an imploring expression.

“Right,” Clark said, resolve never breaking. “Miss Luthor, why weren’t you on the Venture?”

“Some things came up last minute regarding the renaming ceremony I’m holding for my company. I’m trying to get away from the Luthor name; branch out into something holding a less… negative connotation. You’re not just here to ask that though. Go on. Say it.”

Clark simply raised his eyebrow at her.

“Fine. I’ll say it. You’re wondering about my involvement because the faulty part on the Venture was made by a subsidiary of my company. Here,” she reached over to a stack of flash drives on the counter. “This drive contains everything you need to know. Now if that will be all, I have a lot of things to do.” She waved her hand, gesturing toward the door.

Clark pocketed the drive and took several steps toward the exit. Kara, however, remained frozen where she stood.

“You coming?” Clark asked.

“Yeah. Yeah give me a minute, you go ahead.”

He shrugged, looking at her with concern in his eyes, but stepped outside none-the-less.

“And no eavesdropping!” Kara called out after him.

A tangible silence filled the air.

“So…” Kara started, but trailed off.

“So,” Lena repeated.

“How, um, how are you?”

“Busy,” Lena said curtly.

“Right. Right of course, sorry. I should probably… let you get back to work.” Kara made no move to leave, however.

Lena sighed and tapped her fingers on her desk. A nervous habit she thought she’d broken in grade school. “So, the Tribune, huh? You always did have an ambition for journalism.”

Kara blushed and lowered her eyes to the ground. “Yeah. I got lucky. Cat Grant hired me as her assistant about two years ago and recently promoted me to the role of my choice.”

“And you, of course, picked reporting. Well, good for you, Kara, I’m happy to see you fulfilling your dreams.” Lena knew her smile was a bit forced, and looked it too, but it was all she could do to avoid running to Kara and throwing her arms around her, or shouting. Or both.

“Thanks. And what about you, miss CEO! That’s incredible!”

“Yeah, well, we always kind of knew this was coming, didn’t we?”

“I mean, I knew,” Kara said, starting to lose herself in the moment. “You always thought it was going to be Lex who—” she cut herself off, immediately realizing the implication of what she said. Somehow, it always came down to Lex. “I- I’m sorry I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine, Kara, really,” Lena said unconvincingly. “Listen, I really am busy right now, but we should get coffee later. Catch up, you know? Here, give me your phone, I’ll put my number in.”

“I still have it,” Kara whispered. “I couldn’t bring myself to delete it. Unless you got a new number?”

“No,” Lena said. “No, I didn’t change it in case you ever wanted to get in touch again.”

“Oh,” Kara sighed. “Well, I’ll, uh, I’ll text you later. I should… I should get back to work and write this up.” She paused awkwardly in the doorway. “See you later.”

“Yeah,” Lena whispered after she left. “See you.”

 

Lena found it very, very difficult to concentrate for the rest of the day. She knew when she moved here, of course, that Kara was in National City. Supergirl was all over the news in every city across the country. Still, she wasn’t prepared to have run into her so soon. And so formally.

Apparently, Kara couldn’t wait to talk to her, because she texted Lena almost as soon as she left her office. **_Tonight after work? I get off at 7._**

 ** _Sure,_** Lena replied. **_Want to make it dinner instead?_**

**_Yeah, sounds good. Noonan’s?_ **

**_I’ve never been there. Is it good?_ **

**_The best. Noonan’s at 7:15?_ **

**_Noonan’s at 7:15,_** Lena confirmed. She finished out the day glancing at the clock about every 10 minutes. Time crawled by and the butterflies in her stomach never quite settled down. She wasn’t sure if she’d actually be able to eat anything once they got to the restaurant.

At 6:30 Lena finally decided she wasn’t going to be able to get any more work done that day. Jess jumped in shock as she emerged from her office the earliest she had since taking over the company.

“I’m headed to dinner, Jess. Call me if anything urgent comes up, and feel free to go home whenever.”

“Alright, Miss Luthor. Have a good evening.”

 _Yeah, we’ll see,_ Lena thought.

She arrived at Noonan’s at 6:45 and busied herself studying the menu. The place was so Kara it almost hurt. It had all of her favorites and as Lena glanced around she noticed the portion sizes were huge. She was very glad to see a bar, and ordered the most expensive glass of wine they had.

She was about halfway through her drink when Kara stumbled in. Lena’s stomach flip-flopped and she didn’t want to think about what that meant. Kara’s face lit up in a small smile when she noticed Lena. She hurried over and sat down across from her.

“Lena,” Kara said in that tone she used when they were dating, and oh how Lena ached. “Its, uh, it’s good to see you again. How have you been?”

 _There’s been a hole inside me ever since you walked away,_ Lena wanted to say. Instead she said, “Pretty well. Busy as ever. How about you? You seem to have embraced your job and your, um, talents.”

“Oh, yeah! I feel the most _me_ I’ve ever felt, really. It’s been nice to just be able to help people, you know?”

“Yeah, you’ve always been big into that,” Lena said with a soft smile.

“Mmm hmm. I feel… fulfilled. Like I’m finally living up to my potential.”

The waiter came over to take their dinner orders. “Hey, Kara,” he said. “The usual?”

“Mmmm, yeah,” Kara said. “Only, get me the ‘Danvers’ sized hot cocoa. I need the sugar.”

He chuckled. “Of course. And for you?” he said turning to Lena.

“I’ll have a side salad and another glass of wine, please.”

Kara frowned. “Lena, are you sure? You look starving, get some real food.”

“Believe me, Kara, I’ll be fine. I had a big lunch,” she lied.

“Ok, but if you change your mind, just let Kevin know. The food here is _so good._ ”

“I will. So, Danvers size?”

Kara blushed. “Yeah, they bought bigger cups after I had 6 large hot cocoa’s in one sitting,” Kara said. “They limit me to two Danvers sized though.”

“I’m sure, after the impending sugar rush that surely caused.”

Kara’s blush deepened.

They fell into a comfortable conversation about work, about life in National City, about the best restaurants in town. Lena learned more about Cat Grant than she ever really wanted to know; about the harshness of Kara’s new boss; more about how Alex was doing. Kara already knew some of the ins and outs about being a CEO of a major company—she had worked for Cat Grant after all—but it was interesting to learn it from Lena’s perspective. By the time their food came, everything felt old and familiar and _right._

When the check comes, Kara starts to say, “Oh, split it please,” but Lena cuts her off, grabbing the bill before she can finish.

“Lena, you don’t have to—”

“I want to, Kara. It’s fine.”

“But I ate so much, it’s got to be expensive.”

“It’s fine, I promise.”

“Ok, but next time, it’s on me,” Kara said with a determined look on her face. Lena tried to hide the shiver that ran through her at the thought of a next time.

As they got up to leave, Lena couldn’t help but linger at the door. Kara stayed right there with her.

“Ummm, do you want to come back to my place and just… hang out for a while or something? Watch a movie, I don’t know.”

“I… yeah. Yeah, Kara, that sounds fun.”

Kara beamed and grabbed Lena’s arm, dragging her towards the apartment complex.

Lena couldn’t help but smile about how perfect Kara’s apartment from her. Cute, cozy, and brightly colored, just like Kara.

“This is a very nice place,” Lena said.

“Not as nice as yours, I’m sure. Can I get you some water? Or some food; you didn’t eat much at dinner.”

“Water would probably be a good idea, yeah. I’m good on food though.”

Kara grabbed two water bottles and a pint of ice cream out of the freezer. She turned on the tv, which was set to the science channel. “What do you wanna watch?” Kara said, picking up the remote to flip through channels.

“This is fine. This is great, actually.”

Kara grinned and flopped down on the couch. She watched the screen intently, but Lena’s gaze kept drifting to Kara.

As the show went on Lena inched closer to Kara on the other end of the couch. Kara seemed to unconsciously lean toward Lena as well. Heart pounding, Lena reached her hand out to Kara’s. Kara jerked her hand away and Lena’s heart sank.

“Sorry!” Kara said immediately. “I just. You startled me. Here.” she leaned closer and grabbed Lena’s hand. Lena scooted over until their sides were touching, and Kara leaned her head on her shoulder.

“This is nice,” Kara whispered.

“Mmm,” Lena hummed and ran her fingers through Kara’s hair. Kara closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Kara’s phone buzzed on the table, and she bolted upright. Upon checking the text, she whispered, “Crap. James…”

“Hmm?” Lena asked.

“I… I can’t do this… I’m sorry. You should leave.”

“Kara, what? What’s happening? Who texted you?”

“Ummmm. It… He.” Kara fiddled with her fingers. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it tight. “It was my boyfriend,” she muttered into her pillow.

“Oh.” Lena tried not to let her disappointment shine through her voice.

“I’m sorry. This was a mistake. I’ll see you later, Lena.”

Lena held back tears as she left the apartment. As Kara shut the door behind her, she caught a glimpse of her burying her hands in her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love giving my faves hope and then Tearing Them Down. 
> 
> I promise the angst won't always come from the Men in their lives, that's just how it is right now.
> 
> *Edit I don't think Kara would ever ever ever cheat on James, and I don't think holding hands and cuddling with your friends is cheating. Kara's motivation here is that if they continue here she's scared she's gonna cheat on James and that'd kill her ok bye


	3. In Which Hearts are Broken and Mended and Broken Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara tries to fix everything, but the universe has other ideas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one kind of got away from me... but the place I was going to break was too short, but everything after that needed to keep coming. Sorry about the delay, my life has been kind of crazy the past week or so and my emotions have been all over the place.

The next day at work, James greeted Kara with a kiss on her forehead, as he did every morning. Kara usually smiled up at him after, eyes squinting shut and nose crinkling. But today she just stood with a blank expression on her face.

“Kara, what’s wrong?” James asked immediately.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing.” Kara cursed her inability to lie.

“Want to grab some coffee and talk about it?” James knew her so well. She really wanted to be happy with him. But the feel of Lena’s hand in hers lingered in her mind like the smell of Lena lingered on her clothes.

“Sure, yeah,” Kara said.

One of the advantages of being active CEO of a company was that James got to make his own schedule. And he was in charge of Kara’s boss, so they didn’t even have to wait until lunch to take a break.

Kara fiddled with the lid of her coffee cup, popping it on and off as James settled into the chair across from her.

“So, what’s on your mind, babe?” James asked.

Kara felt tears well up in her eyes. His face was so sincere and she didn’t want to hurt him. But she knew she wasn’t being fair to him. She took a deep, shuddery breath and spoke. “We need to break up.”

James jerked back and tilted his head in confusion. “What? Why? Is… is everything ok?”

Kara tried to nod, but wound up shaking her head. She laughed sadly. “No. Not really. It’s Lena,” she said in a small voice.

James frowned. Kara had mentioned Lena before, but had never gone into detail about why they had broken up. He knew it had something to do with Clark and Lex, and didn’t like the idea of Kara’s ex hurting his best friend.

He cleared his throat. “What, uh, what about Lena.”

“She’s here in National City and we hung out last night and I just…” Kara looked down at what used to be the lid of her coffee cup and the sleeve to keep it from burning hands. She had destroyed both in her anxiety. “I’m not really over her. Or I guess I _was_ over her, but seeing her… It brought back old feelings. And it’s not fair to you to keep this going if half the time I’m thinking about someone else.”

James wanted to protest, wanted to say they could work it out. He wanted to find Lena and tell her to leave National City. But then he thought about the previous year, how he had tried to date Lucy while he loved Kara, and didn’t want to experience that hurt for himself.

“I understand,” he said. He sighed and moved to stand up. Kara reached out a hand to stop him.

“For what it’s worth, James, I really did want this to work out. I really care about you; you’re one of my best friends.”

James pulled her up and scooped her into a hug. “And I will always be your friend, Kara.” She buried her head in his chest, finally letting herself sob.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Now, maybe you should go talk to Lena.”

Kara shook her head. “No, I really hurt her last night. I need to give her some space. I do need to talk to Alex though.” She pulled away and grabbed her phone from her pocket, dialing Alex’s number.

“Kara! What’s up?”

“Alex, we’re moving sister night to tonight.”

“Ok…” Alex’s tone changed from happy to suspicious. “Any reason?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I need to talk to you about a few things.”

“Ok. Is it a potstickers and pizza kind of night?”

“It’s always a potstickers and pizza kind of night. And triple fudge ice cream.”

“Must be serious… I’ll see you at 7, then?”

“7,” Kara said.

 

The day went by agonizingly slow. Snapper seemed even more impatient than usual and Kara was tempted to just walk out and try to find a new job tomorrow. She loved her job, though, so she gritted her teeth and stuck it out.

When she got home, she changed into her comfiest pajamas and sighed as she sank into the couch. She didn’t even bother getting up when Alex knocked, choosing instead to shout, “Come in!”

“It is a triple fudge kind of night,” Alex said as she viewed her sister’s forlorn face. “What’s got you so down?”

Kara took a deep breath putting down the pizza she was about to shove into her mouth. “I broke up with James today.”

Alex furrowed her brow. “What happened? Did he do something?”

“No, no it was all on me.” She avoided Alex’s concerned gaze and stared down at the ground. “It was Lena.”

“Oh,” Alex said, barely audible. She pulled Kara onto her lap. Kara leaned back into her shoulder and looked up.

“We got dinner yesterday after Clark and I interviewed her and I just… it went so well and so she came back here and it was like gravity I couldn’t stay away from her. Luckily, James texted me before I could do anything stupid, but instead of feeling guilty and focusing on him I just couldn’t stop thinking about how Lena’s hand felt in mine. I’m terrible.”

“No, honey,” Alex said. “You did the right thing. It’s hard to let go of exes, especially ones that you loved so much.”

“I still love her, Alex. I never stopped. But I also remember the argument we had and all the reasons we broke up and it puts a hole in my heart.”

Alex was about to say something, but her phone rang interrupting her. She cursed the fact that her job needed her on call 24/7.

“What is it, J’onn?”

“We found some intel on the Venture explosion. You and Kara need to get over here, now.”

Kara sighed and slumped to her room to put on her Supergirl suit. She grabbed Alex from behind and took off into the sky.

“Lena Luthor wasn’t responsible for the explosion on the Venture,” J’onn said as soon as they landed without any greeting. “She was the target.”

“The part that exploded was directly under the seat she was supposed to be in,” Winn explained.

Kara felt her blood run cold. She took ran out the window and flew as fast as she could to L-Corp without giving the others time to talk further.

Alex’s voice sounded in her earpiece. “Kara, you should know… Winn thinks Lex is behind the attacks.”

“That’s not possible; he’s in prison.”

“He’s still got connections, though. We’re not 100% sure but just keep that in mind when you talk to Lena.”

“Copy. I’m landing at L-Corp now.” She touched down on the balcony, just barely remembering to land gently. She knocked frantically on the window.

Lena whirled around in her chair. “Ka—Supergirl what’re you doing here?”

Kara started to speak, but caught a glimpse of Lena’s office door opening over her shoulder. A man walked in with a determined look and a gun.

“Lex sends his regards,” the man said pulling the trigger.

Lena flinched away but the bullet never hit. In a flash of blue and red Kara dove through the window and caught it with her bare hand. She pulled her fist back and punched the guy, hard. There was a crack, and blood shot out of his nose as he passed out.

Kara whirled around and grabbed Lena’s shoulders. “Are you ok?” she said frantically, checking Lena for any sign of injury.

Lena gasped for air. “I’m… I’m fine. What’s going on? How did you know he was going to be here?”

“I didn’t,” Kara said. “I just had lucky timing. We discovered that the part on the Venture that exploded was planted under your seat. Someone’s trying to kill you.”

“Who?”

Kara avoided looking Lena in the eye. “It…. Lex. Lex is trying to kill you.”

“I can’t believe… I mean I knew he had done some… well, some terrible stuff, but he’s after _me_ now?”

Kara pulled Lena into a hug. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. She stroked Lena’s hair until she felt her sag against her.

“What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to come to the DEO with me so we can watch out for you.”

“Can we go to your place instead? I don’t want to be stuck in some underground government facility like a prisoner.”

“Sure. Yeah, we can do that.” Kara picked Lena up bridal style and flew to her apartment.

 

Kara placed Lena gently down on the couch and ran into her bedroom to arrange everything. Before Lena even had a chance to think, Kara was back with a set of pajamas, an extra toothbrush, and a clean towel. She balanced them all in one arm and dragged Lena to the bathroom with the other.

“Here,” she said. “Take a shower to calm down a bit and I’ll set everything up for bed.”

Lena closed her eyes and let the water pour over her, trying to drown out her thoughts. She was shaking hard, and every time she closed her eyes she saw Lex’s face. Lex, her big brother, helping her fit in. Lex in the hideous orange jumpsuit at his trial. The smirk on his face as he was dragged away. Lena was glad for the hot water that rinsed the tears away. She just hoped her face wouldn’t be too red when she got out.

Lena stayed until the hot water ran out. With a sigh she dried off, brushed her teeth, and changed into the clothes Kara had given her. They were warm, and soft, and smelled like Kara, and Lena had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying all over again. She took a deep, shuddery breath and reached for the doorknob.

Kara whirled around when she heard the click of the door opening. “How are you doing?” she asked in a gentle voice.

“Horribly, but I’ll manage. Thank you. For… for everything.”

Kara stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. “No problem,” she muttered against Lena’s neck. “Here,” she said pulling back, “I made up the bed for you.”

Lena smiled softly as she looked past Kara to the bed. Kara had remembered Lena’s favorite blanket from their college days. She had also piled up stuffed animals across the entire bed. “Thank you,” Lena whispered as she crawled into bed. Kara flashed her a smile and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Lena said. “Do you… do you want to maybe share the bed?” She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. “I’m sorry; you have a boyfriend of course you don’t want to… forget I said anything.”

Kara shook her head and crawled into bed behind Lena. “I don’t have a boyfriend anymore,” she whispered. “We broke up this morning.”

“Oh,” Lena breathed. She tried not to think about the bubble of hope that blossomed in her stomach.

“Yeah,” Kara said, her voice devoid of emotion. “So, like, this is fine. Goodnight, Lena.”

“Night, Kara,” Lena whispered. She scooted back into Kara’s warmth and drifted off shockingly fast.

 

Lena jolted awake at 6 am. The first thing she realized was that the bed felt cold. Kara wasn’t there anymore. She stifled back tears as the memories of the night before ran through her head. She allowed herself a few seconds to compose herself before rolling over and reluctantly stepping out of bed. She padded into the kitchen.

Kara was no where to be found, but a plate of pancakes was on the kitchen counter along with a note.

_Lena,_

_I’m so sorry I had to run out this morning. Alex wanted me there when she interviewed the guy that attacked you last night. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can. Enjoy the pancakes, they’re banana; your fave. Don’t do anything stupid_

_< 3 Kara._

Lena smiled. She didn’t think she’d be able to eat much – if any – of the pancakes but she appreciated the gesture. She choked down a few bites, and checked her phone trying to decide what to do for the day. She knew it wouldn’t be wise to go back to L-Corp, but she couldn’t just sit alone in Kara’s apartment all day. A thought occurred to her, and before she could talk herself out of it she had put on a pair of Kara’s sneakers and the outfit that matched her style most that she could find.

 

It was a long walk to the penitentiary where they were currently holding Lex but Lena needed the exercise to clear her head. She had called ahead to let them know she was coming and it had only taken a bit of negotiating to make sure she’d be able to see him and that the visit would remain discreet.

The smug smile he wore as she entered the room was almost enough to make her turn around and leave immediately. However, Lena wasn’t raised a Luthor for nothing. She was more than adept at hiding her emotions, especially from the very people that trained her to do so.

“Hello, sis. To what do I owe the pleasure?” his voice sent a chill down her spine.

“You know why I’m here, Lex,” she spat. “I need to know why and what else you have planned.”

“You’re destroying the fine reputation of my company, Lena. My supporters are not very happy about that. But, I had nothing to do with it, clearly. I’m stuck in here, no thanks to your little _pet_ and her obnoxious cousin.”

Lena gritted her teeth. “Supergirl is not my pet, she is a friend and a wonderful human being. She would never do anything to hurt me. Unlike _you._ ” Lena shoved down the voice that whispered, _only, she is hurting you._

“As I’ve clearly and explicitly stated, I haven’t done anything wrong. I can’t really help what anyone else gets up to, can I?”

“Call them off, or you will regret it,” Lena said. Lex just raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “We could have changed the world together, Lex,” Lena said. “Made it a better place for humans and aliens alike. But your need for power got in the way of logic.”

Lex’s smile turned angry and he jolted forward against his handcuffs toward Lena.

“I _was_ trying to make the world better,” he snarled. “Better for you, sis. Protect you from them; from _her._ She’s breaking your heart all over again, isn’t she?”

Lena’s cool façade broke, and she lifted a hand to hit him, pausing only when she realized he didn’t even flinch.

“Guess I struck a nerve,” Lex chuckled. “I’ll call them off you, but I can’t promise the same for her. Distance yourself and watch your back, Lee. You don’t want to get dragged down with her.”

Lena shoved her chair back from the table and stalked out the door fuming. She let her anger protect her from the panic and grief threatening to break through.

 

Kara was waiting for her as soon as she left the building, arms crossed and eyes wild. “What. The. Hell,” she said her voice the coldest Lena had ever heard it. “I tell you not to do anything stupid so the _first thing_ you do is go visit the person who is trying to _kill_ you?”

“Kara, I—”

“Save it, I’m not done. Do you have any idea how worried I was? I come home and you’re just _gone_ no note, no text, no phone call, nothing and you’re not at L-Corp and you’re not in your apartment and people are trying to kill you and you’re not safe and Lena I was so worried.” Kara’s voice had switched from anger to sadness and panic about halfway through her speech.

“I’m sorry. I just… I had to know. I had to talk to him for myself.”

“You still love him. You still believe in him despite everything,” Kara said, more to herself than to Lena.

“I.. yes. I do. I try not to, honestly. He stopped being my brother ages ago, but part of me can’t let him go. Surely you understand that! After everything last year, after Astra—”

Kara’s face fell and the anger flared up again. “You don’t get to talk about her,” Kara said. “You weren’t there you don’t know anything about that.”

“Kara, I know you. I kept a close eye on everything you’ve been doing since putting on the suit. If something happened to you…”

“No. You don’t get to guilt trip me like that, especially not today. Come on,” Kara said grabbing her hand and dragging her down the street.

“No,” Lena said jerking her hand out of Kara’s grasp. “You’re being such a hypocrite and I can’t be around you right now, I’m sorry. I’ll text you when I get home to let you know I’m safe, but… but don’t talk to me for a bit after that, ok?”

Kara stared at the ground for a very long time before finally nodding. “Fine,” she said. “but just know I’m only doing this because I care about you. I can’t promise I won’t be keeping an eye on you.”

“And I understand that. But give me some space to think about this,” Lena said. She stalked past Kara trying not to look her in the eye. Lena wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop herself from throwing her arms around Kara’s shoulders. But Lex’s words kept echoing in her ears. “ _Distance yourself and watch your back, Lee. You don’t want to get dragged down with her.”_

 

Lena would do whatever it took to make sure Kara didn’t get dragged down at all. But that meant doing what Lex said to throw him off her trail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think, I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with this chapter or with their characterizations. I just want to explore that darker side of Kara more and the little hint of distrust both of them have with, well, everyone.

**Author's Note:**

> Me: has 3 unfinished Supergirl fics  
> My brain: start a fourth.
> 
> I'm having a rough time of it my guys so I needed to write some Angst. I'm a little scared it's going to be ooc but also I could see them both being too stubborn for their own good. I just really love angst that doesn't center around someone getting hurt or dying.


End file.
